I hadn't listened to Byrne's The Knee Plays for years and found I really loved it, especially as a soundtrack for my evening suburban driver shifts for Jimmy John's, and I'd never given my Nonesuch promo of Grown Backwards a chance--surprisingly good, especially the duet with Rufus Wainwright. The Talking Heads re-releases from a couple years ago are, I hope, old news to readers of this blog, but are essential up through Little Creatures, while the also-reissued and essential Bush of Ghosts is one of those classics that my friends either love or hate. I find it pure loveliness--it's at least funky enough that my four-year-old nephew asks for "Eno" in our car.

But the real revelation was Eno's earlier solo classics, or at least the two I could afford to pick up: 1973's Here Come the Warm Jets and especially 1975's Another Green World truly open up a new world. The latter is fast becoming one of my favorite albums ever, though it's so out of focus I can barely figure out why. The former kicks off with a song I recognize, and had always assumed was some late-'80s indie rock. Elsewhere on Jets there's a track that became sample fodder for the Atmosphere/El-P track "Homecoming" (hidden at the end of Lucy Ford).

I'd find the track, but I just realized the disc is in my broken-down car at a park near Medicine Lake--the Camry died right before my last delivery the other night, thus ending my suburban summer. Next week, after some RNC-related work and other freelancing, it's back to teaching and back to the hip-hop book (it's coming along, I swear).